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MANILA, Philippines — Despite the cloud of controversy surrounding the government’s pandemic supply purchases and the suspension of several officials, the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) remains committed to its procurement and administrative reforms.
In a Thursday statement, the PS-DBM accepts the verdict of the Ombudsman, mandating a preventive suspension for incumbent and former officials involved in the controversial multibillion-peso deals awarded by the Duterte administration to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp at the peak of the COVID-19 crisis.
READ: Ombudsman suspends 33 execs in Pharmally mess
The agency assured the public that it would implement the order from the Ombudsman within the given time frame.
“Under the current leadership, the PS-DBM shall continue to implement and institute crucial procurement and administrative reforms while implementing zero tolerance on irregularities and any form of corruption,” it said.
Aside from officials of the PS-DBM, Health Assistant Secretary Nestor Santiago Jr. and former Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, who led the PS-DBM when it entered into the multi-billion deal with Pharmally, were also slapped with a six-month suspension without pay.
Senator Risa Hontiveros and former Senator Richard Gordon, erstwhile chair of the chamber’s blue ribbon panel, filed a complaint that led to the Ombudsman’s ruling
Two years ago, Gordon led a Senate inquiry into the suspicious supply contracts between the government and Pharmally, a startup company with a meager paid-up capital of P625,000.
The blue ribbon committee report said then-President Rodrigo Duterte should be among those held liable for the anomalous deal since he appointed Michael Yang, a Chinese national suspected of being the real owner of Pharmally, as an economic adviser in 2018.